Chapter 24

Lia

Two Saturdays after my last night at Jimney’s, I woke to the smell of frying bacon and the blaring of country music, while I was tucked cozily under the comforter in my boyfriend’s bed. This was the stuff of daydreams. Truly.

With a grin, I rolled over, stretching my arms out like a cat. Spending the night at his place instead of mine was definitely my new favorite activity.

He’d kissed me in all my special places, and I’d kissed him right back, making sure he didn’t cry out my name too loudly when he came inside my mouth. That was the most erotically amazing thing I’d ever done. And I couldn’t wait to do it again.

After that, we’d chatted like we’d always been able to do, talking about nothing and everything. Only this time, there was an intimacy we hadn’t shared before…something that meant more to me than the foreplay we’d been taking part in for two weeks now.

My brother and Addie were gone for the weekend, off to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to visit Addie’s mom. They’d left Max and me to watch Chloe, which meant the two of us were free to be together the way a normal couple was, at least when Gavin wasn’t around.

“Beaner, no! Do not touch that.” I heard Max yell.

A crash sounded, followed by a long, squealing “Yay!” Forgetting where I was, I raced from the room and down the hall.

“What’s going on in…” I froze, catching sight of Gavin standing just inside the front door.

Oh God. Why is he here?

Eyes wide, lips parted, Gav looked at me like I’d committed the world’s worst felony.

Clueless that the two of us had been caught red-handed, Max kept jabbering. “Baseballs cannot be thrown inside the house, Beaner.”

I held my breath and glanced at the carpet, my face so hot I was sure I was moments from melting into the floor. Shattered into pieces was a vase that I was positive had never seen the stem of a flower. Instead, packets of condoms hung between the chunks of broken glass. Ultra-ribbed and magnum-sized condoms, to be exact. Any other time, I probably would’ve freaked out about Chloe getting cut by the glass, but Max had it under control…and the view of my niece tossing those square packets into the air like confetti, along with Gavin’s mortified expression, had my stomach tightening with laughter.

“Jesus,” Max barked, jumping back at the sight of Gavin. “Knock next time, idiot.”

But Gavin’s eyes were still zeroed in on me, accusation heavy in his stare.

To break the tension, I took a step into the room and said, “You guys keep condoms in vases around here? Why? Are you looking to grow them with some fertilizer and water?”

Max zeroed in on my bare legs, his eyes popping before he looked at Gavin again. “Well, crap. This ain’t good.” He dropped his chin to his chest.

Gavin shook his head, coming out of a minute-long coma, only to scoop up Chloe and awkwardly tuck her against his hip. Unlike Max, he walked in my direction, his eyes looking everywhere but my T-shirt and legs. With her hands full of rubbers, Chloe spotted me and bounced.

This could’ve been an ad for birth control gone wrong.

I swiped my niece from Gavin’s arms and planted her at my side. Blue eyes wide, she attempted to shove the foil packets down my shirt.

“I knew it,” Gavin barked, taking a step back from me. He glared at Max and shook his head, not disgusted but more…worried.

Max’s face went red this time. “Dude, shut up.”

I cringed, rubbing a hand over my forehead.

“Nice shirt, Lia.” Gavin shook his head, his eyes going light as he smirked.

I looked down and read the words on the front. Play Rugby. Bones heal. Pain is temporary. And chicks dig scars. This looked really bad.

“It’s not like that.” Even though clearly it was.

“You can’t tell Colly.” Max’s eyes locked with mine, an apology written all over his face.

I held my breath and moved around the rest of the mess. Maybe I should’ve put on more clothes, but the thought of Gavin knowing our little secret had my brain short-circuiting as I sat on the couch. I settled Chloe next to my thigh, and she laid her head against my shoulder as if knowing I needed the extra cuddle.

“Fuck.” Max lowered his head into his hands, scrubbing them over his face.

“Uck!” Chloe happily repeated, tossing the remainder of the condoms into the air with a giggle. Weirdly, the song “It’s Raining Men” passed through my head at that moment, with both Max and Gavin dressed in drag, their heads back and smiling as condom after condom dripped down on their faces from a disco-ball-lit sky.

Warped didn’t even begin to describe my mind-set.

“Care to tell me where she learned that word, boys?”

I leaned forward and looked into my niece’s eyes. She batted her lashes at me, far too innocent for a kiddo who’d just dropped what was nearly an f-bomb. With a soft smile, she laid her head back against my shoulder again and yawned, only to pop her thumb into her mouth.

“She learned that word a while ago, actually.” Gavin cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck.

Max laughed and pointed a finger at Gavin. “Thanks to Uncle Gavvy here.”

“You taught my niece how to say the f-word?” I glared at Gavin.

Behind his scruffy beard, his face went red. “It was an accident. Kid’s like a sponge.”

“Yeah, well, when her daddy finds out, he’s going to beat you.” Yawning like Chloe had done, I stroked the back of her hair.

“I’ve got dirt on you both now. Don’t forget.” Gavin smirked. “You tell Collin about Chloe’s new vocab, and I’ll tell him about you two.” He motioned a finger between me and Max, an evil gleam in his green eyes.

“Are you blackmailing me and my woman?” Max tsked, stuffing the remaining condoms into his pocket. “I may just have to kick your ass, if that’s the case. Won’t be pretty neither.”

My woman.

Warmth ran through my chest at Max’s sentiment.

“Your woman?” Gavin mumbled something like “Not another one” before he finished louder, “If you’re gonna keep this up—which, by the looks of it, you are—would you both just do me a favor?”

I smiled, suddenly not caring that he knew, because if Gavin was on board with the two of us, maybe Collin would be okay with it too.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Don’t screw on the couch all hours of the day and night like Collin and Addison do. You never know when someone’s gonna stop by.”

“What?” Max and I said in unison.

“This couch, right here, that I’m sitting on?” I asked, pointing at the likely soiled cushions. Eww.

Max grumbled, “That’s it. I’m moving in with you.” He pointed at Gav.

I shouldn’t have been so surprised. My brother and Addie had no issue with consummating their relationship on every surface possible. One time, I even caught them in the garage going at it on the hood of Gavin’s Suburban. If only he knew…

“I’m out of here.” Gavin leaned down to kiss Chloe on the head. “Just heard that noise and wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Where you headed so early this morning?” Max asked what I was dying to know. Gavin hadn’t just gotten up this early for weeks. In fact, now that I was really looking at him, he looked a lot healthier. Still had a face full of hair, which was growing on me, but his eyes were brighter and there was some actual color to his skin. He looked like, well, he looked happy.

“Going to the Y.”

Max flashed me a smile from across the room. “Yeah? I’ve been there a time or two myself lately. Got in a good workout last night, in fact. Lots of sweating and hard labor, but so fucking worth it.” He lowered his gaze, staring at my legs—or, more accurately, the space between my thighs, which thankfully was covered by his boxers. His version of working out at the Y was most definitely not the version Gav was referring to. It’s a good thing I was used to his dirty humor…and liked it.

Gavin tugged on his shoes, thankfully not noticing. “You wanna hit up O’Paddy’s with me tonight?”

Max yawned. “Nah. Me and Lee-Lee got plans to take Chloe to the kids’ museum and for pizza after.”

I leaned over Chloe and made bug eyes at her, pretending his plans didn’t affect me as much as they did. She giggled, reaching for my outstretched tongue. Max held all the good vibes of a potential father—loving, protective, and goofy. Even though having children was the last thing on my mind right now, Max definitely made me think twice about all the things I hadn’t been sure I wanted once upon a time.

When Gavin was gone, Max walked over and grabbed Chloe from my lap. “You okay with him knowing?”

I nodded. “Afraid Addie probably knows about us too. She’s been looking at me weird all week.”

“Yeah,” Max said, rubbing the back of his neck. “She kinda got it out of me last weekend.”

I smiled. “She has those tendencies.”

The two of us chatted with Chloe, asking her random yes-or-no questions. We laughed and she giggled, which ended with Max playing peekaboo with her.

“Whaddya say, ladies? You two up for a day out, just us three?” He grinned and tossed Chloe up into the air again. Her loud giggles filled the room like tiny bells.

“Yes. Absolutely.” I nodded.

He blew a raspberry onto Chloe’s stomach, then tossed her up once more.

“You’re good at that.” I stared back at him, seeing things I’d never seen before. Not just on the outside, but the inside too. The kindness and love I’d always known to be there were becoming clearer every second I spent with him. I’d never get enough of those two qualities.

“Good at what?” he asked.

“The daddy-uncle thing.” I tickled the bottom of Beaner’s toes, and she exploded into more giggles.

“I love kids. Want a lot of them, preferably an entire rugby team of boys. And one girl.”

I raised an eyebrow, running my fingers through Chloe’s curls as he sat her beside me. “The world’s in for it, if there’s even a chance of seven Maxes running around someday.”

But in the back of my mind, I could see it: an entire field of soccer players, or baseball players, even. Not football, because Max hated football. Not rugby because that sport was killer dangerous—even though he, my brother, and Gavin lived for it. Max would most likely make his sons into superstars long before they even learned to talk. And his little girl… She’d be gorgeous, with her father’s dark eyes and hair.

The one thought flitting through my mind as I watched him play with my niece was: Does he want that with me?